After the End

Have you read the book that everyone's talking about? 'If I could give this book 10 stars I would' (Reader review) 'This book touched my soul' (Reader review) 'I could not put it down. What a story. What a storyteller' (Reader review) 'This is in my top five books of all time. Absolutely incredible' (Reader review) 'I have never felt so emotionally wrapped up in characters in a book' (Reader review) Powerful, uplifting and full of hope, AFTER THE END is the most moving book you'll read this year - from number one bestseller Clare Mackintosh __________________________ Max and Pip are the strongest couple you know. Only now they're facing the most important decision of their lives - and they don't agree. With the consequences of an impossible choice threatening to devastate them both, nothing will ever be the same again. But anything can happen after the end . . . *********** 'The most moving book you'll read this year' LISA JEWELL 'Life-affirming . . . richly drawn' SUNDAY TIMES 'Compelling and clever, tender and true. I can't stop thinking about it' LIANE MORIARTY 'Heart-wrenching . . . an absolute must-read' MIKE GAYLE ' Put this on the top of your list. You won't regret it ' JANE CORRY 'One of the most moving stories I have ever read . It's perfect' JOANNA CANNON

Have you read the book that everyone's talking about? 'If I could give this book 10 stars I would' (Reader review) 'This book touched my soul' (Reader review) 'I could not put it down. What a story. What a storyteller' (Reader review) 'This is in my top five books of all time. Absolutely incredible' (Reader review) 'I have never felt so emotionally wrapped up in characters in a book' (Reader review) Powerful, uplifting and full of hope, AFTER THE END is the most moving book you'll read this year - from number one bestseller Clare Mackintosh __________________________ Max and Pip are the strongest couple you know. Only now they're facing the most important decision of their lives - and they don't agree. With the consequences of an impossible choice threatening to devastate them both, nothing will ever be the same again. But anything can happen after the end . . . *********** 'The most moving book you'll read this year' LISA JEWELL 'Life-affirming . . . richly drawn' SUNDAY TIMES 'Compelling and clever, tender and true. I can't stop thinking about it' LIANE MORIARTY 'Heart-wrenching . . . an absolute must-read' MIKE GAYLE ' Put this on the top of your list. You won't regret it ' JANE CORRY 'One of the most moving stories I have ever read . It's perfect' JOANNA CANNON

Explores the cultural function of the concept of “the end.” Apocalyptic thought is hardly unique to the end of the twentieth century; it’s been a fixture of American culture for decades. Currently, the media are rife with omens and signs, and we’re bombarded with warnings that “the end is near.” But as James Berger argues here, the end never comes. There is always something left. In this study of the cultural pursuit of the end and what follows, Berger contends that every apocalyptic depiction leaves something behind, some mixture of paradise and wasteland. Combining literary, psychoanalytic, and historical methods, Berger mines these depictions for their weight and influence on current culture. He applies wide-ranging evidence-from science fiction to Holocaust literature, from Thomas Pynchon to talk shows, from American politics to the fiction of Toni Morrison-to reveal how representations of apocalyptic endings are indelibly marked by catastrophic histories. These post-apocalyptic visions reveal as much about our perception of the past as they do about conceptions of the future. Berger examines the role of such historical crises as slavery, the Holocaust, and the Vietnam War and describes how these traumas continue to generate cultural symptoms. The shadow of impending apocalypse darkens today’s vision of the future, but it’s a familiar shadow: traumas we have already experienced as a culture are recycled into visions of new endings. Our “endings” are already after the end. Berger demonstrates that post-apocalyptic representations are both symptoms and therapies. Contemporary culture continually draws on these traumatic histories, trying to forget, remember, deny, and recover. After the End puts these visions in context, revealing them in some cases as dangerous evasions, in others as crucial tools for cultural survival. ISBN 0-8166-2932-3 Cloth £00.00 $47.95xx ISBN 0-8166-2933-1 Paper £00.00 $18.95x 248 Pages 5 7/8 x 9 March Translation Inquiries: University of Minnesota Press

Explores the cultural function of the concept of “the end.” Apocalyptic thought is hardly unique to the end of the twentieth century; it’s been a fixture of American culture for decades. Currently, the media are rife with omens and signs, and we’re bombarded with warnings that “the end is near.” But as James Berger argues here, the end never comes. There is always something left. In this study of the cultural pursuit of the end and what follows, Berger contends that every apocalyptic depiction leaves something behind, some mixture of paradise and wasteland. Combining literary, psychoanalytic, and historical methods, Berger mines these depictions for their weight and influence on current culture. He applies wide-ranging evidence-from science fiction to Holocaust literature, from Thomas Pynchon to talk shows, from American politics to the fiction of Toni Morrison-to reveal how representations of apocalyptic endings are indelibly marked by catastrophic histories. These post-apocalyptic visions reveal as much about our perception of the past as they do about conceptions of the future. Berger examines the role of such historical crises as slavery, the Holocaust, and the Vietnam War and describes how these traumas continue to generate cultural symptoms. The shadow of impending apocalypse darkens today’s vision of the future, but it’s a familiar shadow: traumas we have already experienced as a culture are recycled into visions of new endings. Our “endings” are already after the end. Berger demonstrates that post-apocalyptic representations are both symptoms and therapies. Contemporary culture continually draws on these traumatic histories, trying to forget, remember, deny, and recover. After the End puts these visions in context, revealing them in some cases as dangerous evasions, in others as crucial tools for cultural survival. ISBN 0-8166-2932-3 Cloth £00.00 $47.95xx ISBN 0-8166-2933-1 Paper £00.00 $18.95x 248 Pages 5 7/8 x 9 March Translation Inquiries: University of Minnesota Press